from Harness Racing Australia
The World Driving Championship headed to Penrith Thursday night (Feb. 26) for three heats. Penrith is a suburb and a major center in the metropolitan area of Sydney. Penrith is located 60 kilometers west of Sydney on the banks of the Nepean River. The Penrith track is 804 meters in circumference. New Zealand’s Dexter Dunn took a 39 point lead into the night over his nearest rival USA’s Tim Tetrick.
Canada’s Jody Jamieson dominated the evening’s proceedings, winning two heats, but it was his patience that was rewarded in heat 17. Driving the favorite, Strawberry Courage, from gate one, he got buried on the marker pegs. Showing a lot of skill to get away from the inside Jamieson charged home over the top to beat Emerging Art and Finland’s Mika Forss. Just Pit Boss and Dexter Dunn finished third with Diesel Shannon and Denmark’s Knud Monster fourth.
Monster brought up his second win of the Championship when he brought Midnight Lights with a well timed run to win heat 18 but when Dunn held onto second place driving Lombo Final Touch it all but sealed the Championship for New Zealand. France’s Tony Le Beller weaved through to get third with Flying Crusa while Billion Smiles and Mika Forss finished fourth.
Jamieson made it a double when Katsidis charged home late to score a narrow victory in heat 19. Katsidis raced behind the leader for most of the race but when Marquez started to tire, Jamieson was able to extricate away from the marker pegs and build race winning momentum. Marshal Dale and Tony Le Beller was second. Norway’s Vidar Hop was third driving Tralee Bromac and Satu for France’s Pierre Vercruysse grabbed fourth.
For all of the latest news and replays log onto https://Vimeo.com/channels/wdc15.
While Dexter Dunn cannot be beaten in the Championship, four drivers are still in contention for second place. Tony Le Beller, Tim Tetrick, Mika Forss and Jody Jamieson will battle it out to be the runner-up.
Australia’s travelling reserve Peter McMullen picked up a drive in a non-Championship race at Penrith and went on to win the event.
The drivers will spend the next two days resting and enjoying the sights of Sydney before returning to Menangle on Sunday for the final Championship heat. Sunday’s race will be run at Gr. 2 level.
So with one heat remaining in the Championship the point scores are as follows:
|
Name |
Point Score After 19 Heats |
|
Dexter Dunn |
183 |
|
Tony Le Beller |
140 |
|
Tim Tetrick |
137 |
|
Mika Forss |
135 |
|
Jody Jamieson |
131 |
|
Knud Monster |
120 |
|
Chris Alford |
116 |
|
Pierre Vercryusse |
112 |
|
Vidar Hop |
91 |
|
Guillermo Adrover |
89 |
|
Peter McMullen |
Australia (travelling Reserve) |
- Tetrick wins World Driving Championships opener (Saturday, February 21, 2015)
Two heats of the World Driving Championps were conducted Saturday night at Tabcorp Park Menangle.
- Alford grabs lead after round two of World Driving Champions (Sunday, February 22, 2015)
The second leg of the World Driving Championship was hosted at Newcastle Harness Racing Club on Sunday evening with three heats.
- World Driving Championship competitors head to Wagga Wagga (Monday, February 23, 2015)
Today we arrived in Wagga Wagga which is the largest inland city in New South Wales with a population of about 70,000. The drive was about five hours in the bus, but with a couple of stops this stretched to about six hours.
- Dexter Dunn (NZ) takes lead in World Driving Championships; Tetrick second (Tuesday, February 24, 2015)
Seven heats of the harness racing World Driving Championship were run in the city of Wagga Wagga, situated 455 kilometres south of Sydney.
- Dunn extends his WDC lead with four heats to go (Wednesday, February 25, 2015)
Two of the international drivers struck gold, with Denmark’s Knud Monster and France’s Pierre Vercruysse recording their first wins in the 2015 Championship but the night will most be remembered for the dominance of New Zealand representative Dexter Dunn as he stretched his lead from 14 points to 39.
- World Driving Championship concludes; Tetrick finishes third (Sunday, March 01, 2015)
The World Driving Championship has been completed after the final heat was held at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Inter Dominion day. New Zealand’s Dexter Dunn brought Global View with a well timed run to win the race and it was no surprise considering the success that Dunn has had during the Championship.